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And totally a ‘what not to eat’ day. Today marks the 4th straight day of my sodium binge. I guess I should thank my endocrine system for the early warning, although I’m feeling less than grateful about it.

BUT! New Balance came through for me and my capris showed up! And I heart them so much!! I’ve worn them for hours already. Plus I got the supplies for my tutu and I already finished making it. Tomorrow Hubs is going to pick up a wig for me and I’ll make my wings. He’s no fun and is only wearing a headband with the bouncy antenna. I’ll at least get him to take a picture of my get-up. 😉

DON’T FORGET TO SET YOUR CLOCKS AHEAD ON SATURDAY NIGHT!!!!

Oh, I might possibly be addicted to joining challenges on Nike.

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It’s March in the beautiful PNW, which means Mother Nature is at her bipolar finest. I had actually forgotten how refreshing a run in the rain could be. There was a nice strong headwind at the start of my run, but it disappeared soon after. I took a new route (for the most part) and it was nice. Not too hilly, but no chance of being flat. It was supposed to be an easy run, but I have a hard time keeping a ‘conversational’ pace while running solo. I tried. Really, I did. Time to find a running partner or three. I’m getting so excited for the race on Sunday! Tomorrow is packet pick up and costume gathering time. 😀

I joined some new challenges at Nike+ but like usual it’s not registering my most recent run yet. Maybe this is Steve Jobs’ way of trying to get me to buy a new iPod? In terrifying news about my running capris, it appears UPS has misplaced them. Somewhere between here and Illinois. Note to self- just pay for shipping next time, Cheap-o. I really wasn’t expecting them to be here by Sunday, so I’m not too bummed out. Hopefully they will show up tomorrow while I’m out running errands.

The lovely (I’m quite sure!) Seattle Runner Girl had a recent post that has me thinking. The gist of it is, do something that scares you. Personally, I’m taking this in a baby steps sort of way. I will not be jumping out of or off of anything, sorry to disappoint. The thing is, I’ve experienced so many scary things life changing events in the last 9 or so months that I don’t know what I have left. Actually, I’m left with a litany of irrational fears. (Exaggerate? Moi? Never!) So today or maybe tomorrow I’m going to face one of those fears head on.

I’m going to eat a banana.

Go ahead and laugh. It’s okay. I would laugh, too. I’m not exactly afraid of bananas. It’s more like the smell/texture makes me dry heave if I think about it too long. I don’t even drink smoothies because they always have bananas in them and then they smell and I can’t get past the banana smell! Banana flavored Runts however… but I digress. I even have a plan of action. Cut it in rounds and cut them in half. That way they can’t turn into banana paste in my mouth. *deep breath* I don’t plan on eating more than half since the bananas Hubs got are basically the size of my forearm. It’s like they all have a case of elephantiasis or one of those brain tumors on the pituitary gland that make people grow to enormous size. Ugh. But, much like my classes this coming quarter, I will reserve judgment (and even thinking about it) until it’s already started. Wish me luck!

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This run was harder physically than mentally. I just didn’t have it in me today. I don’t know if I’ve ever been in this spot before. Do I blame sitting on my butt all day yesterday? Maybe. I ended up taking my rest day. All of it. I didn’t mow the lawn and I can feel the dirty looks from the neighbors through the walls. Okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration. Maybe it has less to do with me taking a rest day and more to do with the fact that our unseasonably nice weather might be at an end. The skies have returned to their natural shade of gray (true from the middle end of October through mid-May). Hopefully it will rain since I noticed that the Scotch broom has bloomed. EVERYWHERE. It’s one of the last things that can still trigger an allergy attack with me. Perhaps it’s the fact that I took a new route (entirely uphill both ways. Scout’s honor. Just ask my hamstrings.) and ended up having to take two walk breaks, one being at the top of the Nemesis Hill. I don’t like that. I don’t know. I’m just having the blahs. And to add insult to injury (not), Nike isn’t uploading correctly.

I hereby give myself permission to remain in a funk until bedtime. A comfort food dinner followed by a good(?) book and an early a decent bed time will be my cure. Tomorrow’s a __________________ (insert tired metaphor here).

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Belated posting due to a need to snuggle with Hubs on the couch while watching a movie so awful that I will never repeat it’s title and enjoying a grown-up drink (or two).

I started my day off yesterday with what was supposed to be an easy conversational paced run. I’m not sure I can do that without someone else. Regardless of my seeming inability to not run at least at a moderate pace, I felt really good. I was planning on running the trails again, but the parks department people haven’t finished with the new cedar. The smell was overpowering, and they were using micro sized steam rollers to squash the chips down so it was deafening even over my music. Hopefully they will be finished and the smell will have dissipated by Tuesday since I plan to avoid the trails until then. I did the rest of my run on the streets and the gravel green belt trails. It was so pretty! The weather is just unbelievably nice. It was chilly, but I actually wore shorts. First time ever! They didn’t fit as well as I was hoping, but after reflecting for a minute I realized it’s most likely because they were purchased roughly 10 lbs ago. The curse of always being between sizes, I guess. I’ve needed to make the switch to shorts (as I still haven’t buckled in to buy a pair of capris) because I’ve overheated fairly quickly on my recent runs. I’ve also started my post-run showers with cold water ( in lieu of an ice bath) and I think it’s making a difference. And as a bonus, I’m not cranking the hot all the way up like I usually do. The water heater in our house is perfectly sized to provide ample hot water to a single Smurf, so this really is a good thing. As for today. I haven’t taken a rest day this week but I’m not sure that I want to do it. I think I’ll do yard work and call it a half-rest day. I’m feeling really good, so the idea of taking a rest day makes me feel a little lazy/guilty. We’ll see how lazy/guilty I feel after an hour of pushing the mower around sloping front and back yards. 😉 Maybe I’ll just sneak in a mile this afternoon. For serious purposes only. My Nike+ sensor is a little off and if I’m going to use it I really ought to calibrate it.

Usually I turn my Nike+ on as soon as I’m out the door, and include my warm up and cool down in the total workout. No real benefit either way, but yesterday I wanted to see what my real running pace was, sans the slower paced bookends. It made a HUGE difference in my pace! I knew it would make a difference, but I’m riding high on the time difference. It’s almost 1:30 faster than my official pace at the VD5K. Awesome! I’m really looking forward to my race next Sunday. Hubs and I are picking up our packets on Friday and then we’re going to hit the costume store. I’ll definitely post a picture of my ensemble. And in the don’t-hold-your-breath column of life, Hubs has mentioned that he might be willing to go on my longer, conversational paced runs with me. The poor dear. He’s 8-9 inches taller than I am and I think it’s all leg. He’ll probably have to speed walk instead. The company would be nice, though.

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I tried something new today. Instead of my usual moderate run I did a fartlek. Well, I tried anyway. I think next time I’ll do it without music. I absolutely could not concentrate on bursts of speed. I would zone out and then sprint a while before zoning out again. I’m not sure, maybe that’s how it’s supposed to work. All I know is I am drenched in sweat and my legs are all trembly and tired but I am full of energy! Loooove it!! (Yes, sometimes I sit down to blog before I shower. I call it “putting my run on the computer” and so far, everyone buys it. SHHHHH!) I saw four other people running! New record? I did a loop through the trails, but they were in the process of putting new cedar bark down on all the paths. It felt something like running in wet sand. Wild! But now I have to take the world’s fastest shower before heading to the in-laws’ (only the good one is in town!) for dinner. Muah!